Static Revelations
by Agent Midnight
Summary: AU/prologue/angst


The gray smoke danced up towards the Heavens as it was let loose from its binding cage, its fingers grasping for something to stop its journey. It billowed in a paused-state for a few seconds before it was ripped apart from the rough hands of the wind. Its fragmented form disappeared from voyeuristic eyes as the air caressed and pulled it away from its source of birth. Thin fingers lifted themselves back up as the smoke disappeared, pressing the cylindric object between chapped lips, creating the smoke again.  
  
A lean man forced himself to move quicker through the bustling crowd of faceless people, frequently allowing a quiet grunt to leave his lips as he got jostled from all sides by hard shoulders and swinging arms. He snarled as a suitcase slammed into his hip, and his eyes followed the stranger as he continued on his merry way, ignoring the youth frozen on the sidewalk. Dark eyes glistened with repressed anger before indifference filtered into his expression once again.  
  
Blank eyes watched him blindly as he turned and continued on his way, seemingly being the only one going in the opposite direction as the rest of the flock. His hand gripped his own leather suitcase tightly as a woman dressed to kill stalked by him, not even giving him a glance as she elbowed him and walked right past. The eyes of hundreds continued to stare as everyone appeared to move in sync with their neighbors, walking in just the right rhythm to make the transportation work perfectly.  
  
'Wrong way, boy.'  
  
An elderly man hustled by him, meeting his startled gaze for a fraction of a second before disappearing once again through the sea of black. A woman with dyed blonde hair clicked by next to him, a polite aura floating around her as she sidestepped to avoid collision with him. He offered a thankful smile in her direction which he was almost certain she missed.  
  
'Why are you going that way?'  
  
'Go with the crowd, kid.'  
  
'Silly young man. Don't know where the hell he's off to.'  
  
Face after face flickered by his line of vision as he dodged between moving people, ducking in the middle of two men moving past. No one even bothered to make the young man's job easier for him. After all, they had places to go and people to lie to. Why bother making his life easier when they all currently stayed in their own permanent nightmares.  
  
He was used to it, though.  
  
Day after day, he would glide through the people who rushed passed him with no means but to be the first to their destination. No goal but to win a simple mind game so they can go home and call themselves the best.   
  
'Well, I was the first at work, and I made the coffee. Beat that.'  
  
'Oh yeah? I was the first at work and plugged in the coffee machine! If we worked together, you wouldn't have had coffee to drink without me plugging it in.'  
  
Day after day, a useless fight of wit and useless intelligence.  
  
The man stared at them all with loathing eyes, smile plastered firmly on his face to throw the sheep off the trail.   
  
'The wolves are near, you hear? The wolves are near, and I don't want you to worry.'  
  
The man, a wolf, flowed through the flock of sheep like he belonged there, a cigarette hanging from his curved lips and his hand holding the handle of a black leather suitcase that had nothing but a few pieces of paper in it.  
  
His grin was wild and daring, suave and friendly; his eyes were cold fire.  
  
And dressed professionally in a business suit complete with tie, he had no trouble fitting into this black-tie world of computers and paperwork. And the sheep allowed him to stay in the world, too stupid to do a damn thing about it. Too accepting to see past his cool attitude and smooth words.  
  
The man reached the end of the sidewalk and waited for the flashing sign to turn green so he could safely cross the street. He took a couple of steps out into the road when a car flashed by him, honking obnoxiously. The window rolled down and a stream of harsh words flooded from the driver.   
  
Stepping onto the other sidewalk was like leaving a battlefield and running into a green field with dandelions and other assorted weeds. A child and her mother were sitting outside of an old gift store, talking to each other about items in the windows across the street. The little girl was laughing brightly as she pointed to one store. As he walked by, he heard the mother cave and tell the little girl to get her things so they can go across the street. The peals of laughter were laced with happiness and strands of success: The little girl knew she'd be getting the doll.  
  
'Ah. To start at such a young age.'  
  
The young man smiled at his own thoughts, even as his mind told him all the things the little girl might grow up to be.  
  
'She may be your boss one day.'  
  
His eyes lifted up to the sky as a dark hue fell over the city. Behind him, the bustling crowd of sheep broke their own uncomfortable silence as the darkness hit them also. Nervous words filtered back and forth through his mind, but he ignored their useless chatter. The dark shade grew a couple colors darker as it ran across the silence to fall across the sheep's land. They started getting restless, talking louder to each other as light was ripped from the city.  
  
The mother screamed as a street lamp blew next to where she was standing, glass raining down to fall across her small frame. Her gasp followed next as blood started to drip down her face from above her hairline. Her eyes flew across the street and locked with the eyes of the young man watching her with a calm that was decorated with fear.  
  
She noticed that he wasn't looking at the blood spilling into her eyes, but down at the sidewalk next to her. She followed his gaze and saw her daughter lying on the pavement, a shard of glass lodged into her cheek. The frightened silence was broken by her sobs.  
  
The young man turned on his heel as a scream appeared behind him, his eyes burning into the black suits. His heart pounded to a stop as he saw the organized group beginning to flood in all different directions, madly scattering to and fro with no sense of mind to them. A second later, the city was filled with horrified screams and shouts as the sea of black suits began running everywhere and nowhere at all. Men and women stumbled in his direction, screams ripping from their parched throats. As a woman rushed by him, her hurried exclamation filtered into his cloudy mind.  
  
"Run, damn it! Don't stand there!"  
  
His mind settled into place and he gazed upwards as the darkness grew heavier. His heart slammed back into his chest and he found himself spinning again and sprinting down the sidewalk. He felt his cigarette slip from his fingers, and he couldn't stop himself from watching its descent towards the concrete.  
  
As the sheep scampered away, the wolf willingly followed, moving in time with its prey.  
  
The screams were stopped too short as the city was encased in darkness.   
  
The young man could only think one thing before a strong force flung him violently to the ground. He felt his face scrape and tear along the rough, uneven sidewalk and tried to put his hands out to stop his trip further along the concrete. Pain tore through his body as he felt something solid slam into him, pushing him further along the walk. Blood flew from his mouth as another heavy object crashed into his body.   
  
He landed on his back, staring up towards where the sky should be as the darkness grew closer and closer to the city. He would have cried if he had seen that it was over. He would have cried if he had known that the horrible experience was finished. He would have cried with the fact that he had survived something terrible.  
  
He would have cried if he had time.  
  
'I'm dying.'  
  
When it finally ended, hours after it had begun, silence was the main occupant of the planet Earth. 


End file.
